The Universe is Endless
by magicpotofgravy
Summary: Naruto has always been the strange ninja. He would sometimes start talking in gibberish, claiming that it is a dead language called 'English'. He would also say that he learned it from his older sister that doesn't exist. "She's from a country called America" Naruto would say when people asked where she was from. "It was destroyed a long time ago" He would always add.


**I don't own Naruto. I wish I did though. I only own my OCs.**

**Warning: English isn't my first language, so if there is any spelling, or grammar errors, sorry about that.**

**Enjoy!~ **

'How do you think that the world will end?' I was once asked. I would always shrug, and say 'How should I know?' there were literally a million possibilities. A disease could wipe out humanity. An asteroid crashing into earth, like the one that killed off all of the dinosaurs. A rogue planet invading our solar system, throwing off the earth's orbit, causing us to be launched into the cold vacuum of space. Or maybe we would all be vaporized by Gamma rays from a newly formed black hole. Heck, maybe we'll be torn apart atom, by atom by a black hole! The possibilities are endless.

Despite me knowing all of these possibilities, I was never one to worry about the end of the world. It just seemed too unreal, that everything around me would die off suddenly. I thought that everything was going to stay the same. I didn't feel the need to worry about it, seeing as there was more 'important' issue to deal with. Back then, I thought that graduating from college would be the most exciting part of my life. I was dead wrong.

I should probably start at the beginning. To put it simple, I had just graduated from college, and was thrown head first into the real world. Needless to say, I was broke, and in debt. I couldn't find a job for the life of me, and I still had to pay back my student loan. Thank everything sugary and sweet in the world that my older brother took pity on me and tried to help me find a job that would require my skills. Key word, _tried_. It didn't work out so well because apparently, employers were looking for people with more 'experience'. Also, the interviews didn't really end well. I'm not going to elaborate, because I run the risk of scarring you for life.

"Mirs...Mirs! Earth to Mirs." My brother said as he waved his hand in front of my face. I instantly straightened up in my seat.

"Anthony Brian Penigon! What have I told you about interrupting my daydreaming?" I hissed, narrowing my chocolate brown eyes. Anthony and I were in the Boston Children's Hospital. That day, I was taking a break from my job hunt, and decided to help Anthony with his job as a doctor there. Well, if you could call following him around like a lost puppy, board out of my mind, 'helping'.

"Marina, instead of daydreaming, you could oh I don't know, actually do some work?" He asked as he looked at his mug of coffee.

"I would, but aren't we on your break right now?" I countered and I started to play with the pencils in that were resting on Anthony's work desk. Anthony reached over and plucked the three pencils that I was using to make a little triangle out of my hands.

"Aw! That wasn't very nice!" I pouted as I leaned back in the office chair.

"And you wonder why you don't have a job yet." He mumbled under his breath.

"I heard that!" Anthony said nothing more as he took a sip of his coffee. There was an awkward silence for exactly a minute. I had been counting.

"The breaks about over. Hey Mirs," My ears pierced at the mention of my nickname. "Do you mind entertaining some of the kids in the daycare center? I know the kids there absolutely adore you." My cheeks instantly felt as if they were on fire.

"Well, I do enjoy playing with them." I trailed off.

"Maybe instead of trying to become an engineer, you could work at a daycare, I know that the hospital is always welcoming people to help entertain the kids." Anthony suggested as he started to collect papers, and folders filled with medical files on his desk.

"While I love kids, I am not going to just throw away all of the years of schooling that I've had." Anthony shrugged.

"Just a suggestion. Come on, I have to perform a surgery today, and I have to start preparing for it." And with that, he opened his office door and left. Leaving me to have to scurry out of my seat to follow him.

By the time I had shut the door of his office behind me, Anthony had already disappeared behind one of the corners of the hallway. Already knowing where the daycare center was in the hospital, I started walking.

"Hey Marina." one of the nurses who was stationed at the daycare said cheerfully. I gave a shy smile and nodded my head. At the moment, I didn't want to associate with anyone my age. The only person that's approximately my age that I associate with is my brother, and he's seven years older than me.

"Mirs! Come play house!" Exclaimed one of the little girls inside the daycare. At this, I gave a huge grin. I absolutely adored the small children in the hospital. I picked my way through the the room, over to where a group of little girls, no older than seven were. One of the girls who was in a wheelchair rolled over to me.

"Mirs! Didja like lunch? What did it taste like? Did you make lunch yourself? I wish I could eat... stupid stomach. Do you think that the nice doctors would one day let me eat instead of having all of these wires stuck into me?" The girl in the wheelchair asked in rapid fire. The poor girl had never tasted real food before. Something was wrong with her stomach, so she had to have nutrients necessary for human survival injected into her. So that is why she always questions me whenever I leave to eat.

"Jenny, I just had a slice of pizza. Its nothing too exciting." I said amused. Jenny just pouted as she rolled along beside me.

"One day, I'm going to make food, and I want you to be my taste tester! I'll be the most famous chef in the world!" She exclaimed excitedly. Despite her inability to eat, Jenny has always dreamed of becoming a world famous chef.

"I would always be happy to become your taste tester, Chef Jenny" I said playfully. Jenny sped up.

"Come on Mirs! Phoebe, Kelly, Opal, and I are playing house! You can be the mommy!" Jenny babbled.

That's when it happened. That was the moment that forever changed the way I viewed the world. That was when the world around me exploded. Literally. I didn't understand what happened. One moment, I was following an excited little girl who was leading me to her friends, and the next, total darkness. All I remember was a piercing boom, and then the world turning from color, to black. But not before I felt a force slamming into me, causing me to go flying into the wall on the other side of the room.

For a while, I felt nothing, I heard nothing, I saw nothing. It was as if I was floating in eternal darkness. Suddenly, small lights started to appear. The darkness was suddenly lit up with little lights all kinds of different colors. It vaguely reminded me of a Christmas tree being turned on for the first time. The view was absolutely breath taking. The only thing on my mind at the time was of how beautiful everything seemed.

As suddenly as it started, it stopped. The numerous lights dimmed one by one, and before my brain could comprehend what was happening, I felt as if I was being squashed into a ball the size of a baseball. I cried out in pain as I felt the pressure on me become greater and greater. At that point, I was full out panicking. I didn't know what the heck was going on, nor why it was happening. My mind vaguely questioned if this was the afterlife, before the pain became so unbearable, that I couldn't think straight.

I closed my eyes in an attempt, hoping that this is all a dream and in a moment I would wake up.

"Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up." I whispered over and over again. Half way through my little rant, I felt the pressure that was pinning me down lift. My eyes snapped open.

Grey. Now all I saw was grey. My vision was blurred for some reason, I couldn't think correctly either. 'What was my name again? I know it started with an M. Molly? Mary? Maize? No wait, was it Marina? Yeah, it was, and wasn't my nickname Mirs?'

I lay on the ground, trying to scavenge for my thoughts, and memories. Finally, I attempted to sit up. The moment I tried, I was hit with a new wave of pain. That caused me to collapse back onto the ground. After a few more attempts to get up, I gave up and just turned my head to take in my surroundings.

What I saw would forever scare me for life. The land around me seemed as if it was a waste land. As far as I could see, there was not a single living thing. Everything was darkened and seemed as if it was partly vaporized.

'I'm still dreaming' I kept on repeating that in my head. But the more time I spent taking in my surroundings, the less I believed that I was dreaming. Never in my life had I had such vivid dreams, I could never smell anything in my dreams. So when the smell of death and burning flesh hit my nose, I knew that this wasn't a dream.

For fifth time, I tried to sit up, and this time I managed. I ground as I tried to rub away my headache. I seriously felt like I had just been run over by a bulldozer 50 times, and then was thrown into a ditch.

The blurriness was gone by that time and I could see clearly. I pulled my legs closer to my chest. As I was moving my legs, I felt something fall off of my lap. My eyes drifted to what had fallen off. My throat let out a high pitched scream, as I scrambled away from the object. The thing that had fallen off of my lap was me.

She looked just like me; she had the same black, wavy hair. The same chocolate brown eyes, though hers were clouded and looked as if they were staring off into space. Heck, she was even wearing the same clothes as I was which were a light blue turtle-neck, dark blue jeans, and the lab-coat which I so dearly loved.

The scary part wasn't so much that the women looked just like me, it was the fact that half her body was burned away, and it was still burning. She looked as if she had literally been through hell, and back.

Nothing happened for the longest time. My brain was still trying to understand what was going on, and I was so scared, I could barely breathe. What was going on? I had no Idea... Maybe, I really was dead. I had heard stories from my brother about patience dying, and then coming back to life. Their hearts would stop beating, but the doctors would be able to restart their heart again, and some of the patience remembered what happened to them during their short stay with death.

Some said that they ended up somewhere that reminded them of space, where little lights would twinkle all around them. That would explain the lights that I saw before. I also know that some of the other patience claimed to be able to see what was going on in the hospital their body was in. To them, it seemed as if they were only a spectator in the room.

I remember one story that my brother told, one of his friends was blind her whole life. She was born blind. Then when she was around 20 years old, she got into a car accident, and her heart stopped beating. The doctors in the ER were able to restart her heart. And when she came back to life, she was able to accurately describe what was going on in the ER room, and was able to describe the room itself in great detail. She was able to do all of this despite being blind her whole life.

I shook my head, trying to get rid of those thoughts. There had to be a better reason for what was going on. Quietly, I rose up from the ashy ground, trying not to look at the body of the women who looked exactly like me, and began to walk.

Occasionally, sharp pain would course through my body, causing me to stumble. At one point, my legs gave way and I fell on a pile of rubble that was once the door of a house. After hours of walking, I finally saw some signs of life.

"Hey!" I shouted, as I started running. Up in front of me were about 15 people in hazard suits. They were walking around with some equipment that I recognized was used to detect radiation. They didn't hear me.

'Why do they have those suits on? And why are they measuring radiation levels?' I thought as I slowed down in front of them. I walked up to one of them who were looking at their device.

"Excuse me, but can you please tell me what's going on?" The person in the hazard suit said nothing as he continued to examine his device. I felt fear crawl through my chest as I tried to gain his attention by waving my hand in front of his face.

"Hello! I'm right here! Please, just tell me what's going on!" My panic was causing my voice to become shaky. At that point, my whole body was shaking. In the midst of my panic attack, I reached forward only for my arm to go right through him. This caught me off guard, and then I fell forward, screaming all the way.

I had just fallen right through someone. That did nothing to calm my nerves. Instead, I was at a point where I was hyperventilating. Finally the man turned around, and faced me. I was laying on the ground curled up into a ball, but felt relieved that he had finally noticed me.

"Hey James, I think we should be heading back now." The man said tiredly. "Who knows when there's going to be another attack." He continued. I felt my blood run cold. The small amount of relief I had felt a moment before completely vanished.

Attack? What happened? I don't remember the U.S. declaring any wars or anything, I know there was some tension between the U.S. and Russia, but would Russia really nuke us?

"You're right, let's head back. We can't find anything here anyway." Another person said. With that said, all of the other people started to walk back. just stood there, trying to understand what I just heard.

'Ok, so there was an attack apparently on us when I was helping out in the hospital. Now pretty much everyone there is dead.' The word dead rang through my brain painfully. 'At least some people survived, but they are anticipating another attack. But why were they carrying equipment to measure radiation levels...?'

Suddenly it hit me, the one reason that my brain could come up with at a time like this. Nuclear war. This whole situation now made sense to me. I still didn't know why I was still able to interact with certain objects, but not others. My mind wandered to what I was sure was my body that slide off of my lap when I first woke up here.

I was convinced that I had died and I was a spirit in limbo. I know that there was probably a better explanation for my situation, but i didn't feel like stressing out my mind any more than it already has been, trying to comprehend what was going on.

I realized something horrible. There was a nuclear war going on. I remembered one of my history lessons back when I was in high school. It was about the Cuban missile crises, and my teacher would go on and on about that we were literally two seconds from the end of the world as we knew it. Well, it was the end of the world now.

I rolled over onto my stomach, and got up on my knees, and let my hands dig into the earth. This was it, the end of the world, and it was humanity that killed itself. Tears were pouring out of my eyes and I gripped the earth harder.

Not only has humanity destroyed itself, but it has killed off most of the other creatures that live on earth as well. If any other creature becomes intelligent like the humans had, I was certain that humans would be remembered as the horrible, greedy, war-hungry animals in the animal kingdom.

Humans may have messed up big time, but at that moment, I swore that I would preserve as much of the positive and negative sides of humans. Humanity would not just going to be remembered as the blind animals who blew themselves up over stupid matters. They will be remembered as the savage beast they are, yet their softer, kinder and thoughtful side would be remembered as well.

I lifted my head up towards the dark grey sky, letting my rear end rest on my calves. Yes, this would work. I already knew that I could interact with some objects, but not others. Maybe I just can't touch living things? The only things I had touched was my own dead body, and the dirt around me. Plus I was able to rest on some rubble during my long walk. If the only thing that I can't interact with is the living, then I should have no problem preserving human history.

I let my mouth form a small smile. This is what I wanted to dedicate my life to. Preserving the memory of the ordinary, the great, the powerful, and the weak. If by the time I am done collecting as much history as I can there are still humans that walk this earth, I will try and teach them about our species history. No doubt at a time like this, history is the last thing anyone would be thinking about. Everyone except me, because I had always been the odd one out.

"I'll grieve later. Right now, I have to find the federal archives. And I have to see if any museums survived too." I said out loud as I got up off of the ground. Not really sure which direction I was going, I began to walk. The fact that all of my family and friends were dead was in the back on my mind. I had successfully distracted myself from my grief. Why grieve when you have more important things to do?

I would spend the next thousand years searching the globe for any information I could find. Whether it was a list of the inventory of some company, or a crumpled up love letter, or priceless manuscripts, or high school text books, or blueprints for a military aircraft. I collected everything, and brought it to a huge underground bunker that I had found underneath an area of Japan. That was where I had based my operations, and stored everything. And believe me; I had lots of stuff to be stored.

To be honest I was so busy, I hardly notice those one thousand years. Over time, Life began to thrive on earth. Apparently, it wasn't the end of the world like I had predicted long ago. I've even had some humans come down into my bunker, but they didn't go too far in, they just used the front entrance for whatever they were working on.

In all of that time, I have come to terms with me being dead. I was actually able to experiment with this, and I found out that I could go through non-living objects if I wanted too. This ability certainly helps me collect information on everything. I can also fly! Well, the first couple times I tried, I ended up flying into some of the ruined skyscrapers, when I was in New York.

The hot sun shone down on my pale face as I was sitting on a park bench. Over time, a village sprung up right over my bunker. Apparently, this was a 'ninja' village. Believe it or not, but this is a direct result of the nuclear war between the US, and Russia.

After my death, I had to scurry around to print off as many files off of the internet as I could before it was shut down permanently. I ended up printing a lot of news articles which described what was happening during the war. Apparently, because of all of the radiation that was produced because of that war, the atmosphere was flooded with it. For Mother Nature, this meant adapt or die. Humans ran through the next stage of evolution, In order to survive the high radiation. A strange side effect of humanities mutation was graining what was once called 'super powers'. For some odd reason, people began to call it chakra.

I'm still not quite sure why these people decided to call themselves ninjas, but my guess is that their ancestors found some scrolls about the ancient ninja stories. I guess that the properties of chakra were really similar to the powers people had in those stories, so they made the connection.

I'm not really sure, for the last 100-300 years, I've been in the European region looking out for the civilization that had just started to thrive. I can't be everywhere at the same time.

My thoughts were interrupted as a ball flew right through me and bounced off of the park bench that I was sitting on. I couldn't feel the ball, since at the moment the only thing I can touch is the bench, but that didn't mean that the ball didn't startle me. It surprised me so much that I fell off of the bench.

"Arg!" I hissed in pain, and I tried to get up. Of course, nobody heard me, just like no one could see me.

"Hey guys! It's over here!" A small kid, no older than eight yelled out as he came running towards the ball that had come to rest at my feet. He was speaking in Japanese of course, I mean this was Japan. But I was a little surprised that the language still existed even after all of this time. I know that English, which was one of the most spoken languages in the world, is now considered a dead language. Meaning that because English is my native language, I've had to learn a whole lot of other languages, including Japanese.

The little kid, not seeing that I was there, walk right through my stomach, and leaned over and grabbed the ball.

Despite all my years of simply going through people, I still wasn't able to get used to it. It didn't help that whenever I went through something that was alive, I get this weird feeling, and then it starts feeling as if I had a small brain freeze.

When a group of little kids appeared in my line of vision, the little boy who was dancing on my stomach ran off to join them. I started to get up, using the park bench as a support. I could already feel the mini brain freeze coming on.

"Hey, are you alright?" I looked up to see a small boy with spiky blonde hair, with his baby blue eyes looking right at me. I was kneeling on the ground, so I was about eye level with him.

My mind froze. Unconsciously, I started to turn my head every which way to see if there was anyone else this boy was talking to. It wasn't possible for him to be talking to me; no one else in the entire 1000 years of my afterlife has ever been able to see me.

When I didn't see anyone else, I shifted my gaze slowly towards the little boy. He cooked his head and said,

"Hey, I said are you ok? I saw that kid over there practically stop all over you. He didn't even notice that you were there." I just started at him.

"Are, are you talking to me?" I stumbled a little. This was too good to be true. The little boy narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Of course I'm talking to you, do you see anyone else here?" The boy pause, "Why didn't that other boy see you? And how come he was able to walk through you? Are you a ninja? Can you teach me awesome ninja tricks? No one else will, not even the instructors at the academy. They always say that a monster like me doesn't deserve to be a ninja." The boy started to become gloomy, be for he started to smile like a crazy person.

"Except for Iruka-sensei! He takes me out for ramen sometimes!" I listened as the boy started to ramble off about how he was going to become the best ninja in the whole wide world. I grew slightly worried when I heard about the treatment that he was getting from the other villagers. What happened in the time that I was in the European regions? After about ten minutes of the boy talking, I decided to ask him his name.

"That's all very nice, but could you please tell me your name?" I asked with a small smile. The boy stopped suddenly, with his eyes wide open.

"I can't believe that I forgot to introduce myself! Sorry about that, it's just no one ever stops to listen without yelling at me. My name is Uzumaki Naruto! And I'm going to be the best Hokage the world has ever seen!" the now identified Naruto stated with a huge grin.

My mind briefly wandered to a half buried memory of a little girl in a wheelchair declare that when she becomes a chef, I would be her taste tester. That little girl will never become a chef. Her dreams destroyed because of some fight she wasn't even part of.

At that moment, I made a silent vow to help this boy achieve his dream. I couldn't help Jenny achieve her dream before she died, so in honor of her memory, I will help this boy. I gave a sad smile.

"Well Naruto, my name is Marina Alice Penigon. Or you could just call me Mirs. It is a pleasure to meet you." The grin on Naruto's face grew even wider. The prospect that someone other than the old man, and the Ichiraku's didn't hate him delighted him to no end.

**A/N:**

**Oh my gosh! This is the longest chapter I've ever written. And this took about a week to write. **

**I am so so so so so sorry for not posting anything for these past few months, but in my defense; school has been taking up a lot of my free time. Not to mention that the whole crisis in Ukraine has pretty much screwed up my life. There were several people I know that were killed on the maiden, so during that time, just didn't have the inspiration to write. **

**I hope you liked this story so far. The other chapters probably won't be as long though. I'm going to try and update every Wednesday, but I'm not sure if that will work out.**

**Please review. It means a lot to me**

**Peace out!**

**~Magic~**


End file.
